After an exceedingly long day mired by the pomp and circumstance surrounding the NHL's silly season, the Trade Deadline Day, you could understand if the Flames took their eye off the prize for a night and faltered against their bitter rivals for the second time in 3 nights.

And that's pretty much exactly what happened, but I'm here to tell you that it didn't break my spirit.

Because I wouldn't let it.

No, I went into shock, and man, did some great things happen inside my head. Let's revisit that, okay?

The Rundown

Your Calgary Flames got off to a scintillating start in this one, as Flames superstar and #1 Center Matt Stajan, unmarked due to hilarious Edmonton defending, snuck into the slot and cashed a Dennis Wideman centering pass into the yawning Edmonton cage for a 1-0 lead. The sold out Saddledome went haywire, and the three Oilers fans in the building really felt the atmosphere ripping them a new one. For Stajan, who has really rejuvenated his career with the Flames in this full 82 game season, because in my head all the owners are reasonable people and we had a smooth and amicable CBA negotiation process, would not end his dominance in this game only 2 and a half minutes into it - that's the enforcer's role.

Nay, Matthew Q. Franchisington would pop another puck past quasi goalie Devan Dubnyk less than 3 minutes later, putting the Flames up by a deuce.

Alan Alda, season ticket holder and my best friend, was sitting next to me drinking a Heroin Beer, when he turned to me with a glimmer of prophecy in those irreverent eyes and said "Stajan looks good tonight, Loober, I think he has one of those special nights in which we all remember where we were when we fondly recall the exploits of such a phenomenal athlete"

"You're correct, Hawkeye," I replied, astutely. "In my essence, I can feel it in my essence."

There was an air of impending success on this night, and it started earlier when the Flames in no way held a vacuous press conference in which a sad sack General Manager and delusional ownership group rambled on about a playoff spot next season without mentioning anything in the way of a plan.

And the feeling permeated throughout the Flames dressing room before the game, because the boys in red would strike again before the stanza ended.

Simon Depres, one of the crucial return pieces in the Jarome Iginla to the Penguins trade, feathered a cross zone pass right onto the stick of Matt Stajan, who tapped it in for the natural hat trick.

The elation that followed was electric, but not new to a franchise that never once had Anders Eriksson sign a contract to play for them.

Roman Horak's natural hat trick and Brian McGrattan hitting for the cycle were also some highly notable events that occurred between the second and third periods.

On the flipside, the Oilers, still clinging desperately to those Todd McFarlane created Cog jerseys, struggled to establish a forecheck and just could not maintain possession, suffered through another tough night as they slip down back into the 13th spot in the Western Conference.

Three Pocket Dogs and a live performance by Stompin' Tom Connors later, the dust settled, and the Flames had so soundly beaten the Oilers that even Ryane Clowe was wondering how Edmonton was going to score.

The Red Menace

I'm going to give this one to Ryan O'Reilly. What a pickup he's been for the Flames since the team very successfully signed ROR to an offer sheet with absolutely no consequences or backlash.

O'Reilly played 18 minutes tonight, scoring 5 assists and was absolute beast mode on the penalty kill. Not that he needed to be, as Miikka Kiprusoff continued the trend of unreal goaltending he gave to the team last season. The Brodie twins blocking all the shots in their path didn't hurt either.

In Summary, Friends

The things that go on in my head are a lot cooler than what happens in real life. Did anyone watch the balance of this game without having something to bite down on?

There's a lot to say. Murray Edwards, who insisted the Flames next season are a playoff team, had better have watched this abomination of a game, hopefully it offers up a fresh perspective. This team needs a plan if it intends on rediscovering any kind of postseason glory. Presumably they have one?

I would not be surprised if the Flames have forced Miikka Kiprusoff into an early early retirment, as the team gave up 8 goals tonight and left Miikka parked on the bench for all of them. I felt like they were sending him a clear message about their thoughts on his refusal to accept a trade to the Leafs, and if his end goal is to retire at the end of the year, perhaps the Flames are expediating the process.

Anyway, that sucked. I'm depressed. I'm going back into my own head.

The Raw Data

#

Player

EV

PP

SH

5

GIORDANO, MARK

16:00

2

5

01:41

0

1

05:28

1

6

6

SARICH, CORY

20:09

6

6

00:00

0

0

01:36

0

0

7

BRODIE, TJ

22:00

9

8

00:19

0

0

00:00

0

0

10

CERVENKA, ROMAN

12:54

4

8

01:04

0

1

00:06

0

0

11

BACKLUND, MIKAEL

13:57

4

9

00:00

0

0

00:00

0

0

13

CAMMALLERI, MIKE

14:45

2

7

00:56

0

0

00:53

0

0

15

JACKMAN, TIM

09:55

6

1

00:07

0

0

00:00

0

0

16

MCGRATTAN, BRIAN

12:19

6

2

00:07

0

0

00:00

0

0

18

STAJAN, MATT

13:11

4

4

00:00

0

0

04:02

1

5

20

GLENCROSS, CURTIS

10:49

5

6

00:56

0

0

02:03

0

1

22

STEMPNIAK, LEE

11:37

4

4

00:57

0

1

04:02

1

5

24

HUDLER, JIRI

14:12

2

7

00:57

0

1

00:06

0

0

25

BEGIN, STEVE

09:35

4

2

00:00

0

0

00:22

0

0

26

WIDEMAN, DENNIS

18:54

3

8

01:41

0

1

05:28

1

6

33

BABCHUK, ANTON

12:21

5

7

00:19

0

0

00:00

0

0

35

MACDONALD, JOEY

14

21

0

1

1

6

40

TANGUAY, ALEX

15:17

0

7

00:56

0

0

01:59

0

1

44

BUTLER, CHRIS

12:28

3

8

00:00

0

0

01:36

0

0

51

HORAK, ROMAN

14:17

1

6

00:00

0

0

00:35

0

0

Read 'em and weep.

Ol' Flooby offers nothing of any value to anyone. Follow him on twitter here.

As an Oilers fan that has been on the Nation Network for the past 4-5 years, i just have to say; your new favorite part of the Hockey season is draft day. You will be that guy that knows the names of every obscure prospect that ever came across a draft table. Enjoy the misery, it will pay off if the Feaster Bunny doesnt mess it up...

Let's imagine the Blues make the playoffs and lose in round one, and the Penguins make it to round three (plausible). That is probably the best-case scenario for the Flames at this year's draft.

Now, that gives the Flames perhaps the 3rd overall pick, the 19th overall (give or take) and approximately the 26th overall.

This draft year there are drops in talent after the first four names (MacKinnon, Jones, Drouin, Barkov), then another after the next eight to ten names. That means that the Flames 2nd pick, if it converts this year, is just on the tail end of the second tier of 1st round picks, while the 3rd pick is likely at or near the bottom of that tier of prospect.

Then let us imagine that there are three teams drafting 7th 8th and 9th, all of whom have been targeted by Feaster as trade partners in order to move up at the draft. For the sake of clarity we'll use today's standings: Dallas, Philadelphia and Phoenix.

The Flames assets at this point will be: Baertschi, Brodie, Backlund, a 19th overall and a 26th overall 1st round pick, a 1st round pick in the 2014 draft, followed by a glut of lesser-value assets in Cammalleri, Tanguay, Glencross, Wideman and Giordano. All of whom have contractual trade clauses and three of whom are "post-apex" players.

The goal of those teams above is to improve immediately. They may well be willing to trade those picks, but not at the cost of lesser draft picks. Philadelphia may decide to put their pick and Sean Couturier in play for the Ducks pick and Bobby Ryan. Dallas will almost certainly draft rather than trade, and I can't see Don Maloney giving up a pick that high based on financial restrictions and his proven track record of managing for the future and present.

The Flames need to spend some time accruing assets before they can entice a team in a trade like that. Wideman is not a top-pairing defenceman. Nashville got a great return for Erat at the trade deadline on account of a good GM exploiting a desperate GM trying to keep his job. Feaster is the desperate one in most negotiations now, and other teams know that blood is in the water. I suspect, and this is not meant to be cruel in any way, that things are going to get a lot darker before the dawn.

1 Bourbon 1 Scotch 1 Beer
Well the team as it was sucked every other night. Gotta be happy, we are finally rebuilding, were gonna suck every night.

1 Bourbon 1 Scotch 1 Beer
Well we have 2 maybe 3 1st round picks. Gotta be happy, we are hopefully finally gonna have some bluechips. Maybe we get lucky and buy our way up the draft.

1 Bourbon 1 Scotch 1 Beer
Well we have a ton cap space & will have lots more when we amnesty buyout Kippers last year as we struggle to get to the floor. Gotta be happy, we got teams by the cap shorties.

1 Bourbon 1 Scotch 1 Beer
We're gonna suck next year, GM is set up to be fired. Gotta be happy, no one likes him anyway. Gotta be happy, we're gonna get some franchise futures with our lottery picks next year again.

As an Oilers fan that has been on the Nation Network for the past 4-5 years, i just have to say; your new favorite part of the Hockey season is draft day. You will be that guy that knows the names of every obscure prospect that ever came across a draft table. Enjoy the misery, it will pay off if the Feaster Bunny doesnt mess it up...

Watching the telecast last night (geez get rid of that Rob guy.....horrible) I noticed a disproportionate number of Oiler jerseys filling the voids in the sea of red. This is an open invitation for Flames Fans to venture up the QE II to show solidarity and support for your team next Saturday April 13 at Rexall Place. Is that the sound of crickets? I really hope you show up. Someone, anyone from Calgary please show up. It appears that your team prefers to mail in the two points. The least you can do is be a loyal fan. For fun I'll count the Flaming C's in the crowd that night and report back. C'mon it"ll be fun. A national broadcast and all. Just sayin......

Let's imagine the Blues make the playoffs and lose in round one, and the Penguins make it to round three (plausible). That is probably the best-case scenario for the Flames at this year's draft.

Now, that gives the Flames perhaps the 3rd overall pick, the 19th overall (give or take) and approximately the 26th overall.

This draft year there are drops in talent after the first four names (MacKinnon, Jones, Drouin, Barkov), then another after the next eight to ten names. That means that the Flames 2nd pick, if it converts this year, is just on the tail end of the second tier of 1st round picks, while the 3rd pick is likely at or near the bottom of that tier of prospect.

Then let us imagine that there are three teams drafting 7th 8th and 9th, all of whom have been targeted by Feaster as trade partners in order to move up at the draft. For the sake of clarity we'll use today's standings: Dallas, Philadelphia and Phoenix.

The Flames assets at this point will be: Baertschi, Brodie, Backlund, a 19th overall and a 26th overall 1st round pick, a 1st round pick in the 2014 draft, followed by a glut of lesser-value assets in Cammalleri, Tanguay, Glencross, Wideman and Giordano. All of whom have contractual trade clauses and three of whom are "post-apex" players.

The goal of those teams above is to improve immediately. They may well be willing to trade those picks, but not at the cost of lesser draft picks. Philadelphia may decide to put their pick and Sean Couturier in play for the Ducks pick and Bobby Ryan. Dallas will almost certainly draft rather than trade, and I can't see Don Maloney giving up a pick that high based on financial restrictions and his proven track record of managing for the future and present.

The Flames need to spend some time accruing assets before they can entice a team in a trade like that. Wideman is not a top-pairing defenceman. Nashville got a great return for Erat at the trade deadline on account of a good GM exploiting a desperate GM trying to keep his job. Feaster is the desperate one in most negotiations now, and other teams know that blood is in the water. I suspect, and this is not meant to be cruel in any way, that things are going to get a lot darker before the dawn.

Your right, in a "sledge hammer over the head kind of way"... in reality, as I'm well aware... this situation, will get ALOT worse.

I was trying to make the point that if there were a chance that it could be done, getting two picks in the first 8-10 should be the focus of this franchise at the draft this year.

Will it happen? probably not, because God knows what Feaster is thinking.. other than the ROR offer sheet, I don't understand anything he's done as a GM.

Watching the telecast last night (geez get rid of that Rob guy.....horrible) I noticed a disproportionate number of Oiler jerseys filling the voids in the sea of red. This is an open invitation for Flames Fans to venture up the QE II to show solidarity and support for your team next Saturday April 13 at Rexall Place. Is that the sound of crickets? I really hope you show up. Someone, anyone from Calgary please show up. It appears that your team prefers to mail in the two points. The least you can do is be a loyal fan. For fun I'll count the Flaming C's in the crowd that night and report back. C'mon it"ll be fun. A national broadcast and all. Just sayin......

Nobody from Calgary, especially Flames fans, like going to Edmonton. Not even if the tickets were free. It's a waste of precious resources and about as appealing as getting flu shot in the testicles.

Ya, quite right. As a Flames fan you can certainly attest to a waste of precious resources, like skin. OK that was offside. As much as I delight in your plight I do feel a lot of empathy for the passionate hockey fans in your town. Having just been treated to a mere pin hole of light it what seemed like an endless night I can relate to what you are about to endure. The abyss is cold, dark and damp....like Calgary. Sorry! Sorry! I'll call myself on an Un-sportsmanlike Conduct.

This isn't to say that your idea is inherently wrong. When I wrote the Flames Rebuild series one of the first things I outlined doing, after overhauling virtually the entire upper management group, was to trade Iginla, Kiprusoff and Bouwmeester for a first round pick each. Then using those picks to move up, essentially turning four picks into two and targeting two centers in the 6th to 11th overall range.

So I'm hardly going to call you out on the idea, I just want to reinforce the reality for Flames fans that the team lacks the resources to do what management says they will.

Oilers fans were deluded into a false sense of reality (see Schremp, Robbie) and it delayed the inevitable by about two or three years. If I'm calling Flames fans out it is as a grizzled veteran of this process, not due to malice.

One of the best games I ever went to as a Flames fan was the Oilers home opener the year after the Oilers went to the Finals against the Hurricanes.

My friend in Edmonton has Oil season tickets, and the first game of the year was against the Flames. She invited me up, and obviously I accepted.

Calgary had acquired Alex Tanguay in the offseason, and there was A TON of hype surrounding the Flames. A guy a few rows down from me was wearing a Flames Tanguay jersey, and the guy right behind him started beaking him for being a bandwagon jumper because of the newness of the jersey. He was wearing one of those Vintage Branded Messier jerseys that looked like it was MAYBE a week old, and I let him know about it.

Now I was the ONLY Flames fan in my section. They had a pregame celebration commemorating the Oilers run to the Finals, and I made fun of everyone surrounding me the whole time, making absolutely zero friends, as you might imagine.

The Flames actually had the wood put to them that game. They were down 3-0 in the third when Iginla scored a goal to bring them within 2, and I lost my mind, as you might imagine. I started going crazy cheering, and I looked to my left and saw a group of 6 or 7 Flames fans cheering in the section next to me, so I went over to go high five all of them, partly because I was excited, partly to continue to troll Oilers fans.

So I get over to that section, and it turns out I know all the Flames fans there in that section. They were all friends of mine in high school up working in Edmonton for a variety of reasons (one of them was current Calgary Sun Flames beat reporter Wes Gilbertson, who was working one of his first journalism jobs in nearby Spruce Grove)

We all acknowledged the randomness of the situation, and then had a beer or two and watched the Flames. There was a group of Oilers fans behind us giving us the gears, and we spent a good chunk of the third period doing a back and forth chirp session. We were making fun of the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Oilers losing the Stanley Cup finals, and they mentioned Calgary doing the exact same thing the season before (there was a lockout in between, but that's not important)

So I concluded that we were arguing over which team was better at being mediocre, which, technically, was true (although I can't reference this without mentioning that Edmonton hasn't been back in the playoffs since and aren't about to be anytime soon)

So the Oiler fan behind me threatened to stab me.

He showed me the knife.

The mood soured.

Not wanting to be stabbed, I went back to my seat.

I guess my point is, I kinda love the Battle of Alberta, and remember that some Flames fans are just as passionate as Oilers fans (I'm sure a Flames fan at some point has threatened to stab an Oilers fan)

Ya, quite right. As a Flames fan you can certainly attest to a waste of precious resources, like skin. OK that was offside. As much as I delight in your plight I do feel a lot of empathy for the passionate hockey fans in your town. Having just been treated to a mere pin hole of light it what seemed like an endless night I can relate to what you are about to endure. The abyss is cold, dark and damp....like Calgary. Sorry! Sorry! I'll call myself on an Un-sportsmanlike Conduct.

Sorry, did I strike a nerve with my last comment? I just didn't want you to get your hopes up... no one goes up to Edmonton for pleasure, that's an oxymoron. It sounds like you know what the abyss is all about, I'll take your word for it.

You might as well wallow in it while you can.. its been fairly one-sided for the last few years.. Oiler fans are like Zombies with a taste for vengeance right now.. we'll check back in few months when the dust settles.

One of the best games I ever went to as a Flames fan was the Oilers home opener the year after the Oilers went to the Finals against the Hurricanes.

My friend in Edmonton has Oil season tickets, and the first game of the year was against the Flames. She invited me up, and obviously I accepted.

Calgary had acquired Alex Tanguay in the offseason, and there was A TON of hype surrounding the Flames. A guy a few rows down from me was wearing a Flames Tanguay jersey, and the guy right behind him started beaking him for being a bandwagon jumper because of the newness of the jersey. He was wearing one of those Vintage Branded Messier jerseys that looked like it was MAYBE a week old, and I let him know about it.

Now I was the ONLY Flames fan in my section. They had a pregame celebration commemorating the Oilers run to the Finals, and I made fun of everyone surrounding me the whole time, making absolutely zero friends, as you might imagine.

The Flames actually had the wood put to them that game. They were down 3-0 in the third when Iginla scored a goal to bring them within 2, and I lost my mind, as you might imagine. I started going crazy cheering, and I looked to my left and saw a group of 6 or 7 Flames fans cheering in the section next to me, so I went over to go high five all of them, partly because I was excited, partly to continue to troll Oilers fans.

So I get over to that section, and it turns out I know all the Flames fans there in that section. They were all friends of mine in high school up working in Edmonton for a variety of reasons (one of them was current Calgary Sun Flames beat reporter Wes Gilbertson, who was working one of his first journalism jobs in nearby Spruce Grove)

We all acknowledged the randomness of the situation, and then had a beer or two and watched the Flames. There was a group of Oilers fans behind us giving us the gears, and we spent a good chunk of the third period doing a back and forth chirp session. We were making fun of the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Oilers losing the Stanley Cup finals, and they mentioned Calgary doing the exact same thing the season before (there was a lockout in between, but that's not important)

So I concluded that we were arguing over which team was better at being mediocre, which, technically, was true (although I can't reference this without mentioning that Edmonton hasn't been back in the playoffs since and aren't about to be anytime soon)

So the Oiler fan behind me threatened to stab me.

He showed me the knife.

The mood soured.

Not wanting to be stabbed, I went back to my seat.

I guess my point is, I kinda love the Battle of Alberta, and remember that some Flames fans are just as passionate as Oilers fans (I'm sure a Flames fan at some point has threatened to stab an Oilers fan)